Food Park Central Marina is a great example of eating cheap in Thailand. Only 5 minutes walk from my condo & offers a huge variety of very good fresh food.
There are so many choices here
Like most food courts you put money on a card & get your refund when you finish.
Duck is always popular
The hanging ducks are a common sight in Thailand.
Fresh seafood is available
So many choices & such little time. 🙂
Food Park Central Marina
Cooked food examples on display to tempt you.
Wonton soup
A favourite of mine & only B70 or $3.40 AUD.
Lots of skewers
The staff here are deaf, but you would never really know.
Bbq skewers
They also specialize in sausages however the skewers are world class.
Teriyaki chicken
Absolutely delicious, as good as I have ever eaten, and only B15 each or $0.70 AUD. These great skewers just melt in your mouth.
Food Park Central Marina & finish off with a Thai classic
Magnificent Mango & Sticky Rice. Certainly one of Thailand’s iconic dishes.
Sadly now in October 2020 we are in the middle of the Covid-19 crisis & 80% of the outlets here at the Food Park have closed. I really can’t see them re-opening until mid 2021.
If you have the time please check out some of my favourite restaurants, just follow THIS LINK.
Thanks for visiting my photo blog. For a selection of cheap places to eat just follow THIS LINK.
Tough times Thailand 2019 on two fronts, first we have Thai immigration making it more difficult for expats to live in this wonderful country, secondly the exchange rate for Thai Baht to the Aussie dollar (and other currencies) is hitting rock bottom.
The following 2 charts will highlight the situation.
This is not a travel blog, it is part of my personal photo history.
This photo blog covers from July 1st to December 31, for the first 6 months of 2019 please go to THIS LINK.
Australian $ to Thai Baht
In 2012 there was 33 Baht to the dollar, today it’s 21.
Australian term deposit rates
In 2012 they were over 5%, today it’s a miserable 1.5%.
Rising costs for food etc
Five years ago in 2014 this selection cost $72 AUD, today it would be $98 Aud, one of the reasons Thailand has become less attractive for expats.
Life is still very good in Thailand
Just ask my good friend Hamish, he hasn’t a care in the world. 🙂
Most afternoons I tear myself away from the computer & enjoy an afternoon coffee.
A small tip for a little lady
I often give this nice lady a B20 tip when I see her of a morning sweeping the road at Terminal 21, it’s just under $1 AUD. She gets so excited you would think it’s 200. 🙂 I’m guessing they don’t get paid too much.
Love watching the storms roll in
So exciting when the storms roll in over Pattaya Bay.
There’s nothing like a September sunset.
I was sipping a red wine at the Holiday Inn watching this magnificent sunset.
Doug Burrows, Bill Perry, David Herd, Brian Rawnsley & Shane Andrews. Shane is here for some major dental work which is around 1/3 of the cost in Australia.
Fusillo Italian restaurant
A nice evening with Matt Harkness & is girlfriend Bow.
Spaghetti seafood
Fusillo is in Naklua Rd, what a great looking dish.
From floor 22 in Markland. For more magnificent sunsets follow THIS LINK.
A super cloud
This was 8 am on the morning of October 13, the previous shot was 6.15 pm the same day.
Halloween
Lola, Nina & Lucky playing trick or treat. I anticipated the visit & stocked up on lollies etc.
The boys from Oz
Shane Andrews, Bill Perry & Greg Caldwell were here for some major dental work. According to Greg he paid 55,000 Baht or $2650 AUD for 1 x Implant – 1 x Root canal – 2 x removals and a complete clean which took 2 hours’ in the chair.
Holly’s coffee at Terminal 21.
helping me maintain my 112 kilos.
Tough times Thailand with high levels of pollution in Pattaya
The unhealthy haze from farmers burning their crops in Thailand & neighboring countries.
Thailand is the least miserable country
Australia comes in at 54th. 🙂
Let’s talk about convenience, I often wonder what it would be like living in Australia again. I ask my friends on the Gold Coast to imagine if they could walk from their home to Robina Town Centre, Southport Park & Pacific Fair in less than 12 minutes? How convenient would that be?
Well folks, that’s what I can do in Pattaya, add to that the 6 five star hotels also within 12 minutes of where I live. All with terrific restaurants & coffee shops.
Plus I have a 24 hour supermarket, chemist & The Coffee Club on the ground floor of the condo where I live on the 20th floor with a view to die for. I probably should mention the 200+ restaurants & food courts also within 10 minutes walk.
Convenience folks, are you getting the picture? 🙂
The burning question is, could I be happy living in Australia again?
Cruise ship visits Pattaya
December 7 & a cruise liner anchors in Pattaya Bay.
Beachfront restaurant Pattaya is aptly named Surf & Turf & is rated number 100 out of 1187 restaurants in Pattaya. For far better food photographs than in this post just check out THIS LINK for my previous Surf & Turf photo blog.
Location
On the beach next door to the Long Beach Garden Hotel.
Beachfront restaurant Pattaya
A fairly ordinary front entrance.
Air conditioned inside section
It’s much nicer inside which you can clearly see.
Catering for the smokers
The further away from me the better. 🙂
Inside in the aircon.
Especially during the day the front area beside the beach is the most popular part of the restaurant.
Another outdoor area
There is quite a number of different sections in this popular Beachfront restaurant Pattaya.
This is the beachside section
No aircon but they have plenty of fans & there is usually a beautiful breeze coming off the ocean.
An unusual dish
My friend ordered snapper, as you can see the portion was rather small & there was a skewer of beef with it.
Here is the seared tuna
Rather delicious.
Chicken Satay
The peanut sauce was excellent.
Oysters from France
Delicious, rather expensive here, around B500 or $24 AUD for 6, double what I pay at El Mercado in Bangkok.
My 2 Australian friends
Ian Fraser-Smith & David Robertson from the Gold Coast in Australia are regular visitors to Pattaya. They were both impressed with the food at the Surf & Turf.
For far better food photographs than in this post please check out THIS LINK for my previous Surf & Turf photo blog.
Thanks for visiting my Beachfront restaurant Pattaya photo blog, Surf & Turf has good food in a great seaside location.
Click bottom right hand corner for full screen. There is also a zoom facility.
Pattaya coffee shop review from my perspective. These are the venues where I choose to spend my time and money. 🙂
The photo above is the Coffee Club at Markland on Beach Rd, this in fact was opening day on 31-8-2018. It closed permanently 2 years later.
Coffee Club Eggs Benedict.
Good quality food & coffee but far too expensive. For instance the equivalent of a Starbucks tall latte is B146 or $6.97 AUD, at Starbucks you pay B115 or $5.50 AUD. Even though they have a branch in my condo building I generally walk 200 meters to the Holiday Inn where I only pay B113.
The staff here are very friendly & the food & coffee is excellent. The large coffee is B150 which is what you would expect for a 5 star hotel. However as I’m a member of the Hi Club I get a 25% discount which brings the cost down to B113.
Bon Cafe import coffee machines from many countries around the world for including Italy, Switzerland, Spain, the United States of America, and other countries to satisfy their various types of customers.
Around 5 days a week I am at Central Marina or the Bay in Beach Road. The lovely girls put a candle in my croissant for my birthday. 🙂
My Starbucks breakfast of choice
Accompanied by a tall latte of course. Starbucks sell 4 BILLION cups annually. Which (divided by 365 days) means that roughly 10,958,904 cups sold daily between ALL Starbucks locations. So we are talking about 388 cups of espresso and/or coffee drinks daily on average per store globally.
This is Boonthavorn
Surprisingly they have the best value coffee in Pattaya. They are on Sukhumvit Rd,see the map below.
Just inside the front entrance on the left.
Top quality coffee for only B30, or $1.40 AUD.
The Bay center on Beach Road
Good value coffee in a pleasant atmosphere.
Location
Many thanks for visiting my Pattaya coffee shop review photo blog.
This is not a travel blog, it is part of my personal photo history, you may describe it as the melancholy musings of an old man. My answer to that is simple, it’s far better to be a “has been” than a “never was”. 🙂
Pretty woman stop awhile, Pretty woman talk awhile, Pretty woman give your smile to me, Pretty woman yeah, yeah, yeah, Pretty woman look my way, Pretty woman say you’ll stay with me, ‘Cause I need you, I’ll treat you right, Come with me baby, be mine tonight. It seems fitting looking back on a random selection of some of the Pretty women I have been lucky enough to know, that Roy Orbison should help me recall some of those wonderful memories.
That’s Karen Smith in 1985, my 3rd & last fiancee, I have never known a nicer girl.
Carol Aboud in 1978
This was taken on my birthday which fell on 7-7-77, Carol & I were an item (on & off) for around 4 years.
Sing it for me Neil. 🙂
Carolyn Clark 1994
I still see Carolyn when I’m on the Gold Coast, in fact in July 2019 we made a little promotional video for her boyfriend Andy Sims.
Next we have Glenn Frey sing a beautiful song, ok I know the song is Caroline as opposed to Carolyn, but you get the picture.
Now this definitely is a pretty woman.
Kelly Davis hailed from Tasmania, we knocked around together for a few months in 1991.
Kelly was a huge fan of Van Morrison so here is another one of my favourites.
One of the sexiest of all the girls I knew.
There is something about those Kiwi girls, hot, hot, hot. Karen Greenwood & I had an on & off relationship for over a year in 1991. She stuck around mainly because I lent her a car. 🙂 🙂 🙂
Now here we have a real wild child.
Allison Schroeder, 18 years of age & gorgeous. Of course I was only 45 at the time. 🙂 If I remember correctly I promised her the world & bought her an atlas. 🙂
As they say in the classics, I was having the time of my life. 🙂
Allison was wild but Tanya was crazy. 🙂
Great company sober, but give her a couple of drinks too many & she would turn into a nightmare. This was 1989 on the Gold Coast.
Time to feature a triple treat.
Meet Kitty, Di Parko & Helen Burke, before you ask the answer is yes. 🙂
They don’t come any hotter than Donna Turner.
This was 1996 & she still looks fabulous today in 2019.
Marlene Cuthbert
Around 1983 Marlene worked for Ansett Airlines, she had a very sexy voice on a microphone, that’s why Ansett used her to make all the announcements at mascot airport. 🙂
Looking back I sometimes regret I chose Karen Smith to be my 3rd fiancee instead of Marlene. Don’t get me wrong, Karen was one of the nicest person I ever knew, our personalities were at opposite ends of the spectrum.
Lee Gregory was my 2nd fiancee.
Lee was from Adelaide where met, then we reconnected again in Melbourne in 1974. We had a fairly hectic dramatic short time together, travelled to Singapore & Bali & saw Frank Sinatra in concert in Melbourne on my birthday 7-7-74.
This is one of my all time Sinatra favourites, I can think of no better song to play when I think of Lee.
And they did…..
Teresa Hamilton-Smith & Helen Burke, we had a lot of fun together in 1982 & 1983.
Barbara Manneli aka the Gypsy.
The classic island romance, we celebrated the millennium on Koh Samui, 3 months later I flew to Italy to re-kindle the affair. Guess what? I didn’t make 1st base. 🙂
This one’s for you Gypsy.
Tall & tanned & young & lovely
This is Mel, we me on Copacabana beach, she had green eyes & was 6′ tall, say no more. 🙂
Bebel Gilberto will sing the song for us.
Someones knocking at the door.
Do me a favour open the door & let em in.
This is Emily at the Sheraton Mirage.
Was a Gold Coast meter maid.
Then there was Jill….
Cool, sexy & a lot of fun. Last time I saw her was in Sydney in 2102.
Back to the 60s
Veronica Crocker was my 2nd serious girlfriend, we dated for a couple of years when I was a teenager until the wanderlust took hold of me & at the ripe old age of 20 I sailed to England.
Dion DiMucci was a huge artist in the 60s, here are two of his songs. Both bring back great memories of my time with Veronica.
Teenager in Love
Take good care of my Baby
My first serious girlfriend
What incredible memories I have of this gorgeous girl Elizabeth Wiggington, better known as Beth. She lived on the corner of Wellington Rd & Antwerp St & I would ride my bike 3.3 Km from my home at 58 Kihilla Rd. It was much easier when I got my drivers licence & bought my little Morris Minor, except for the night I was driving home from her house & collided with a horse on Cumberland Rd. 🙂
Now here is one of the reasons I love Facebook, it was 1960 when we were together for 1 to 1.5 years, then I never really saw her again. It’s now September 2019, 59 years later & we have re-connected on Facebook, in fact Beth sent me quite a few photos, because way back then for some stupid teenage reason I had torn up all the ones I owned. 🙂
Johnny Burnette can remind us how it was back then.
The old shipboard romance.
I needed to get over my long romance with Veronica & Leanne Scott on the ship to England seemed like the perfect solution. 🙂
Sing it for me Bobby……
Wendy Winspear, tall & gorgeous.
A lovely Dutch girl on the Gold Coast, sadly she passed away far too young around 2017, RIP.
My first fiancee, Melbourne 1970.
Paula Wills was an Adelaide girl living in Melbourne & working as a an hostess for Ansett. After 3 months living together I think we just ran out of things to say.
Dianne Parkinson in 1975
To say Parko bought some dramas into my life is a gross understatement. Read about some of it on THIS LINK.
The sweetest Diane of them all.
Adelaide 1973 Diane Butson was one of my neighbours in a condo block on Anzac Highway. She was a dance instructor at Arthur Murray dance studio. A great girl & absolutely gorgeous. Follow THIS LINK for more old photos.
Great song from the Bachelors in 1964.
The Bachelors ~ Diane ~ 1964
Another beautiful Adelaide girl.
Jan Seagers was another neighbour, we had some terrific times together. We caught up again in 2015, I had not seen her for 40 years. Check out THIS LINK.
Pretty woman stop awhile
Helen Burke from Melbourne, we really had some fun, played backgammon all through Hawaii & the California coast in 1982.
Linda Ronstadt will tell you about the coast.
Well by now you are bored silly by the memories & musings of an old man. But make no mistake, Glenn Frey will describe exactly how I feel today.
Surfing Duranbah Beach Australia which is officially known as Flagstaff Beach, is the northernmost beach in New South Wales. It’s at the mouth of the Tweed River and the rocky headland Point Danger, which also marks the Queensland-New South Wales border.
Sand transport system
The Project is a sand transport system that collects sand from the southern side of the Tweed River entrance at Letitia Spit, and pumps it under the river to outlets on the northern side. From there the sand is transported by waves and currents to nourish the southern Gold Coast beaches.
Great view of the beach
We are standing on a cliff in QLD looking across Flagstaff Beach to NSW.
Surfers waiting for a wave.
There seems to be many personal and indescribable experiences in their lives that keeps them paddling out again & again. Plus the willingness to wait for them often defines a surfer more than his or her individual ability.
Bring it on.
The waiting is really worth it.
Everyone loves the beach
Not just surfers, kids with their mums & dogs as well. 🙂
My friends from England
Joan Baptist & Bill Austin from Wiltshire visited Australia in 2010 & naturally I took them sightseeing along the coast. The following week we drove down to Sydney.
They actually got married in England yesterday August 3 2019 after being together for over 20 years.
Surfing Duranbah Beach Australia
It’s not just the board-riders who love to surf. Kite-boarding is an action sport combining aspects of wake-boarding, snowboarding, windsurfing, surfing, paragliding, skateboarding and sailing into one extreme sport. A kite-boarder harnesses the power of the wind with a large controllable power kite to be propelled across the water, land, or snow. Wikipedia
Surfing Duranbah Beach Australia
I’m guessing he is heading for a cold beer.
OK, I’ll meet you at the pub. 🙂
This is what the Beach Boys call a “surfer girl”.
Thanks for visiting my Surfing Duranbah Beach Australia photo blog.
Starbucks Pattaya every morning is a perfect start to my day. Not just the excellent coffee, the friendly smiling staff always put me in a positive mood. Above is the branch at The Bay on Beach Road Pattaya between Soi 5 & Soi 6.
The Bay Beach Road
Let’s go to Starbucks & stare at our phones. 🙂
Opening day at the Bay
September 22 2015.
My breakfast of choice.
Ham & cheese croissant with a tall latte. B240 or $7.8 USD
There are two Starbucks at Central Festival
That makes 4 within 10 minutes walk from my condo.
Inside Central Festival branch
Quite an attractive fit out.
A birthday candle for me. 🙂
As I mentioned earlier the smiles on girls are a really nice start for the day.
Sometimes they run out of croissants.
So I settle for a sandwich. 🙂
Starbucks Pattaya every morning
Every 12 coffee is free if you have a Starbucks card so I often take one home for later. Also they often have a two for one offer.
Almond croissant
A nice alternative to the ham & cheese.
Mr Donuts
Starbucks change B115 for a latte, here at Mr Donuts I paid B93 for what you see.
Xmas day 2021
Two of the lovely girls who look after me every day. 🙂
Thanks for visiting my Starbucks Pattaya every morning photo blog.
MYTT Hotel Pattaya Thailand is part of the A-One hotel group & is located in Soi 3. I watched the whole construction process from my condo in Markland one street away in Soi 1.
Spectacular entrance
As you can clearly see it’s a stunning foyer.
The view from my condo
I’m on the 20th floor of Markland in Soi one & the MYTT is in Soi two.
Here is the building site.
It was quite a radical change to Soi 2.
The Kitch restaurant
Many people may find the name is a rather poor choice, here is the meaning courtesy of Google; “Kitsch is art that’s garish, nostalgic, and very low-brow. Some people who love the aesthetics of souvenir culture think kitsch is really cool, while others think it’s in very poor taste. Kitsch is a German word that’s been adopted into English, meaning“worthless, trashy art,” or the quality of that art.”
Swish may have been a better name.
Kitch may be short for kitchen, but it’s pronounced the same as kitsch. Swish means impressively smart and fashionable, which the restaurant certainly is. 🙂
Live lobsters
The following is from their website; Seafood Buffet Dinner Promotion • 2,500 THB per person includes unlimited Lobster(serve half of the Lobster at once). Not include a beverage. • 3,000 THB per person includes unlimited Lobster (serve half of the Lobster at once) and also beverage (Alcohol included) Special discount for you to add Line @:MYTTHOTEL or check on Facebook. Please kindly contact MYTT Hotel Pattaya Thailand directly to get the special discount.
Sky Bar on the 19th floor
A nice atmosphere with a great view, far too expensive for my budget however. A Singha beer is B220 or $9.80 AUD. Most of the beer bars in Pattaya sell it between B65 & B85.
At last they have a “special”.
They invite you to join them every Friday for 99 Be Mine – where 99 Baht gets you a glass of wine, a pint of beer or 3 in 1 Tapas.
Small intimate bar
Two DJs were playing fairly loud music, as they do in Thailand. 🙂
Final feast Mantra Pattaya Sunday brunch with friends, I have so many memories of great moments in the last 12 years at this wonderful restaurant. This photo blog features many of the long lunches dating back to 2007.
We are going to miss the fabulous food.
Alaskan crab & oysters from France have always been my favourite at the Mantra Sunday brunch. Having said that I must admit the quality has been going down slightly in the last 2 or 3 years. I apologize for this criticism just their standards were always so high I guess they were hard to maintain.
The seafood section.
I would always ask to be seated near the seafood & sushi. 🙂
Final feast Mantra Pattaya, lets not forget the cold Sake. 🙂
Included in the price of the buffet, so I would always take full advantage of this special.
My friend from Sydney Roland Bonnici.
Roland loves dining out & the Mantra was his favourite Pattaya restaurant. This visit was a week before it closed on February 10 2019.
From the Chinese kitchen.
Pork Belly, roast pork & duck, delicious.
A favourite dish
From the Chinese wok the beef & onion creation just melts in your mouth.
Wonderful decor
The Mantra featured 7 different kitchens.
Lets look at previous years, 2007 Trevor & Nui.
Trevor hails from Western Australia & spends lots of time in Pattaya.
This was 2008.
Nick Partridge from the Gold Coast & his lovely lady Sharron have been Mantra fans since the beginning.
Big group in 2010
At the back is Trevor & his son Cameron + xxx, then myself, my brother Warren, Nok & Phil Avalon, & at the front we have Greg Johnston & Herbie Pastor.
Big birthday with lots of friends.
No better place to celebrate than the Mantra.
Beautiful Benjamas Sitthi
Ben now works at the Avani Hotel adjacent to Royal Gardens.
Before Ben there was Amy
Amy really knew how to make you feel welcome.
Another birthday in 2009.
I remember this one very well, my great Phil Thomson from Australia bought his 21 yo son Michael to Pattaya as part of his introduction to life in the fast lane. 🙂
March 2012.
Another super Sunday.
February 2010
On the left is my brother Warren & Bill Austin & Joan Baptiste from Wiltshire in England.
Xmas with Yaowaluck Bumrungthum aka Kartoon
For Xmas day lunch the Mantra was always our choice.
How could we forget Pothole aka John Martin.
We call him Pothole Bin Ladin the mouse of Markland. A flashback to Potholes birthday, aka John David Martin, at the Mantra in 2013 when love was sweet.
Allan & Vicki Chiswick from Sydney.
Laem Chabang Their cruise ship spent 24 hours at Laem Chabang so they hightailed to the Mantra. 🙂
Putting on the Ritz
Finally here are some of the glamorous Mantra girls putting on the Ritz.
Check out three previous Mantra photo blogs here. Number one,
& link number 2,
Many thanks for visiting my Final feast Mantra Pattaya photo blog.
Italian food Beach Rd Pattaya at Trattoria Pizzeria Toscana is a delightful experience. TripAdvisor obviously agree with a rating of 45 out of 1,111 Restaurants in Pattaya. Owner & chef Luca Marchetti is originally from Pracchiola, a tiny village in the mountains to the north of Tuscany.
Flashback to 2006
The original restaurant was on the block where the Holiday Inn is now situated.
Here’s to old times in 2006
The restaurant was much smaller & more intimate, in fact I preferred the atmosphere to the current location which seats over 700 people.
Pizza with parma ham.
Definitely one of my favourites.
Fettuccine is absolutely delicious.
Of course they serve every kind of pasta & pizza imaginable.
Memories of 2012
Dinner & red wine with Irina from Ukraine.
Take your pick
It all looks so good, Toscana’s menu is huge.
There are several sections of the restaurant
This is my preferred area to dine.
What a fearsome sight this is.
The big fellow Luca with a knife in his hand should be avoided at all cost. 🙂
Lots of stock in the cold room.
Luca operates his own organic and sustainable farm not far from Pattaya where he grows his own vegetables, rears free-range chickens, rabbits, ducks, pigeons, guinea fowl, wild boar, goats, sheep, pigs and cows. No processed food, no growth hormones, no chemicals, no problem. 🙂
Another pizza
Notice the anchovies on the side, delicious.
The boys from Oz in 2014
Lenny, yours truly & my brother Warren. Sadly we lost Lenny early 2016 after losing a battle with cancer, RIP.
Seafood anyone?
Toscana has recently opened a new seafood section in the front garden.
Lots of wine, mainly ITALIAN.
Quite a few wines available y the glass.
A very friendly waitress in 2014.
As you can see I’m not a person who misses a photo opportunity. 🙂
Dinner with friends January 2019
From the left we have May, Alex, Hamish & Gary.
Hamish’s favourite
Beef carpaccio tasted as good as it looked.
May chose the Baby Clams aka Pippies.
This is the same dish she had on New Years Eve.
Quail for dinner December 2021
Quite tasty but very fiddly to eat.
Thanks for visiting my Italian food Beach Rd Pattaya photo blog.
Coffee with Luca
February 6th I met Luca for coffee during my morning walk.